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August 8, 2000

Letter to the Editor

I am writing with reference to the article "Call to arms: Ottawa wants kids to hunt" published yesterday in the Times Colonist. The intention of the federal government to promote hunting through special days reserved for kids under the age of 18 will, in our opinion, put Canada’s children at risk. While Environment Canada maintains that this program is needed because fewer and fewer Canadians are hunting and hunting is an important economic activity in Canada, we believe they can promote hunting by adults rather than jeopardizing the safety of our children.

Many provinces have regulations which allow children to hunt under some circumstances through minors permits. However, this proposed program is intended to substantially encourage more children to hunt more often. Increasing the exposure of children to guns in this way will also increase the risk that children will be killed or injured in suicides, homicides and accidents. We have seen the tragic results of too easy access by children and youth to guns. The issue of suicides and murders, which are the principal risk, is clearly not that these children do not know how to use these guns. Quite the contrary. And Canada’s record is not as pristine as many like to believe. In a study of industrialized countries published by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Canada ranked fifth in the rate of children under the age of 14 killed with guns, right behind Israel and Northern Ireland. Many provinces, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, have rates of children killed with guns that are as high as Israel and Northern Ireland combined.

The suggestion that this is in the interests of improving safety flies in the face of the advice of groups which have studied the prevention in firearms injury in children and youth. The Canadian Paediatric Society and Canadian Society for Adolescent Health, for example, have stressed that "training" is no guarantee of safety given that most children and youth who die of gunshots are killed and injured intentionally in suicides and homicides not in accidents. Moreover, training requirements for young people who need guns already exist - young people in this country can already hunt with a valid Minors permit, granted upon successful completion of a Firearms Safety Course (FAC).

The gun lobby in Canada and the powerful National Rifle Association in the United States have consistently argued that they need to encourage more children to get involved in shooting sports and have devised a variety of special "training programs" which are essentially efforts to market and promote gun use by children. Rather than catering to these interests, the government of Canada should put public safety first.

Penny Bain

Executive Director

BC Institute Against Family Violence

For more information: http://www.guncontrol.ca